York Museum Gardens
Encyclopedia
The York Museum Gardens are botanic gardens in the centre of York
, England
, beside the River Ouse
. They cover an area of 10 acres (4 ha) of the former grounds of St Mary's Abbey
, and were created in the 1830s by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society
along with the Yorkshire Museum
which they contain.
The gardens are held in trust by the City of York Council and are managed by the York Museums Trust. They were designed in a gardenesque
style by landscape architect
Sir John Murray Naysmith, and contain a variety of species of plants, trees and birds. Admission is free. A variety of events take place in the gardens, such as open-air theatre performances and festival activities.
There are several historic buildings in the gardens. These include:
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society constructed several buildings in the gardens during the 19th and early 20th century, including the Yorkshire Museum and its octagonal observatory
.
Most of the other buildings dating from the Middle Ages are associated with St Mary's Abbey, including the ruins of the abbey church, the Hospitium, the lodge and part of the surviving precinct wall. The remains of St. Leonard
's Hospital chapel
and undercroft
are on the east side of the gardens. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society constructed several buildings in the gardens during the 19th and early 20th century, including the Yorkshire Museum and its octagonal observatory
. The museum houses four permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology and astronomy.
, just outside the city walls
in the centre of York
. There are four entrances to the gardens: on Marygate (off Bootham) by St Olave's Church
, on Museum Street by Lendal Bridge, via a path at the side of King's Manor
, and from the riverside walk next to the River Ouse. The site slopes gently down towards the river and is made up of historical buildings and undulating lawns interspersed with plants and trees. The gardens are open to the public during daylight hours, so the opening and closing times vary throughout the year. Admission is free, and there are about 500,000 visitors each year. Drinking alcohol, cycling and ball games are not allowed in the gardens.
The gardens, which were given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society
by the British Royal Family
in 1828, occupy part of the former grounds of St. Mary’s Abbey
. The society acquired the land to build a museum to house its collections; the Yorkshire Museum was completed in 1830. The then Princess Victoria visited the gardens in 1835, the year that they were first open to the public. In 1960, the gardens and the Yorkshire Museum were given in trust to the City of York Council. Since 2002, they have been managed by the York Museums Trust, along with York Castle Museum
and York Art Gallery
. The gardens are maintained by the Askham Bryan College of Agriculture.
The land was granted to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society under the condition that botanical gardens would be established on the site. These were created during the 1830s in a gardenesque
style design by landscape architect
Sir John Murray Naysmith. They originally contained a conservatory
, a pond and a menagerie
, which was destroyed when a bear escaped from it and had brief control of the area. The gardens are home to a population of semi-tame
grey squirrels
and many species of birds. Until 2006 a family of peacocks had been in residence for at least 70 years. There are approximately 4,500 plants and trees in the collection, some of the varieties native to England and some from other parts of the world. Planting consists of large beds containing predominantly shrubs and trees, and lawns interspersed with individual trees. Species of tree include a monkey puzzle tree
along with oak and chestnut trees; three of the trees in the gardens are classed as United Kingdom champion trees. There is a rockery next to the Marygate entrance, by the ruins of the abbey church, and in front of the entrance to the Yorkshire Museum there is a terrace bordered with beds of white roses, the symbol of Yorkshire
.
There is also a geological oddity close to the main gates, consisting of a large boulder of pink granite that was discovered during construction of the city's railway station. Since this type of stone is not local it was determined as having been transported there from Shap
in Cumbria
by glacial action during the last ice age
.
As well as being a popular recreational space for both residents and visitors, the gardens are the venue for special events such as open-air theatre and music performances. In 1970, bands including Roxy Music
, Hawkwind
and Pink Fairies
staged concerts, and in 2007 The Lord Chamberlain's Men presented a production of Romeo & Juliet. During the 20th-century revival of the York Mystery Plays
, performances were held on a fixed stage in the gardens among the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. In the 1950s, York actress Dame Judi Dench
acted in the plays performed in the gardens, and played the Virgin Mary
in 1957. Several of York's festivals use the gardens as a venue for events; in 2006, between 800 and 1,000 people celebrated the Chinese New Year
with displays that included lion dance
rs, and in 2007 during the Jorvik Viking festival there were demonstrations of Viking
craft skills and battle training. The gardens are the location of York’s Saluting Station, one of only 12 in the United Kingdom, with 21-gun salute
s being fired at noon to celebrate occasions related to the British Royal Family throughout the year. At these times a military band
marches to the gardens before the salute is fired.
In the northeast of Museum Gardens there are remains of the west corner of the fortifications that surrounded the Roman fort
of Eboracum
. The original defences, consisting of turf ramparts on a green wood foundation, were built by the Ninth Legion between 71 and 74 AD. Later those were replaced by a clay mound with a turf front on a new oak foundation, and eventually wooden battlements were added, which were then replaced by limestone
walls and towers. These stone defences are some of the few Roman remains that are visible above ground in York.
The Multangular Tower is the western corner tower of the Roman fortress, and consists of both Roman and medieval architecture. The tower has 10 sides, from which it derives its modern name "multangular", and is 19 feet (5.8 m) high. It was built in its late Roman form during the early 4th century, when it was constructed with three floors to house a catapult
. Five Roman stone coffins are in the Multangular Tower, which were brought from graveyards in other areas of York.
A 76 foot (23 m) section of 4th-century wall connects the Multangular Tower to a small interval tower. The side of the wall and towers facing into Museum Gardens is carefully faced in stone, as during the Roman period it was on display. The other side is rougher because it was originally covered by an earth bank. The wall and towers were still in use after the end of the Roman period
in Britain, and were subsequently incorporated into the medieval city walls
. As late as the English Civil War
they were being used to defend the city, and there is a hole in the wall along from the Multangular Tower that was made by a cannon ball during this period. The Roman parts of the wall and towers are constructed of regular rectangular limestone blocks with a band of red tile running through them. The later medieval additions can be identified by the use of much larger blocks of limestone that cut through the red tiles in places and by the cross shaped arrow slits on the Multangular Tower.
To the north of the Multangular Tower there is a stretch of the medieval city wall with the remains of the original Roman wall running parallel to it on the city side. Built into this part of the wall is the stone Anglian Tower
, which was once thought to have been built during the reign of Edwin of Northumbria
, but now is generally thought to be of the very late Roman period. Behind the Anglian Tower are a series of banks showing the level of the defences during the Roman, early Middle Ages, Norman, and late medieval periods.
The gardens contain several buildings dating back to the medieval period, most of them relating to St Mary's Abbey. The Benedictine
Abbey's origins date back to 1086 when Alan Count of Brittany
granted St Olave's Church
and the adjoining land to the monk Stephen of Whitby, who became the first abbot of St. Mary's. When St Olave's Church became too small, a larger church in a Romanesque
style was built nearby, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1089 by William II
. This was replaced between 1270 and 1279 by a church in a Gothic
style. The abbey became the wealthiest monastery in the North of England
, worth over £
2,085 a year before it was dissolved
by Henry VIII
on the 25 November 1539. Over the next 200 years the abbey fell into disrepair and the abbey church was largely dismantled for its stone.
Stones from the abbey church can be seen lining paths throughout the gardens, but the major ruins of the church are on the western side. The church was aligned on a northeast axis because of the shape and size of the site, instead of pointing to the east, the normal alignment for churches in England. Part of the north and west walls that formed the nave
and crossing
, designed in Gothic style by architect Simon of Pabenham in the 13th century, remain standing. The ruins include dummy lancet window
s, tracery
windows and "tracery remains to show that the patterns alternated between a single large circle over two lights and three small circles over three lights". The column capitals
are decorated with foliage in a stiff-leaf style as well as in a naturalistic
style, although this stonework is weatherworn and so this decoration is hard to distinguish. Sections of the foundations of the church and its Norman
predecessor are exposed, and a plan of their layouts can be seen in the grass. Finds excavated from the site, including life-sized statues of Christian saints, can be seen in the Yorkshire Museum.
St Mary's Lodge was built around 1470 as an addition to the late 12th-century buildings that formed the gatehouse
at the main entrance to the abbey, – now the Marygate entrance to the gardens. Some remains of the 12th-century gatehouse can still be seen, in particular the archway attached to the side of the lodge. The lodge is built of stone, and does not contain timber framing
like the nearby Hospitium. The lodge, along with the attached railings, gates and gate piers are all Grade I listed buildings, which means that they are of outstanding interest. Originally, the lodge may have been used as a guesthouse for the abbey, and was the point where the poor could claim alms
from the abbey. After the abbey's dissolution
, the lodge became a courthouse until 1722, when part of the building became a public house
. In 1840, it was used as a home for the Yorkshire Museum's curator, and then as offices, and during the early 21st century became the headquarters of the York Museums Trust.
Along with the lodge, some of the abbey's precinct
walls are still standing. A section of the remaining walls runs along the north-west part of the gardens and extends further along Marygate to Bootham
. The walls were constructed in 1266 and increased in height and crenellated in 1318 under a royal license from Edward III
. Originally there was a defensive ditch along the outside of the walls. The walls include several towers, not all of them dating from the medieval period; the semicircular tower near the gatehouse is a 19th-century reconstruction. The walls and towers were used for the abbey's defence, e.g. in disputes with the City of York over land ownership and taxes, and played a role in the defence of the city during the Siege of York
.
The Hospitium
is located between the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey Church and the River Ouse
and is thought to have originally been a guest house for visitors to the abbey of low social rank, or possibly a barn. It was originally part of a group of buildings in the abbey grounds that included a brew-house, stables, mill and, near the main gate, a boarding school with 50 pupils. The oldest parts of the ground floor were built around 1300, but the upper storey has been extensively restored in modern times. The ruined gateway at the side dates back to the 15th century, and was probably the entrance to a passage that ran towards the water-gate by the river.
The remains of St. Leonard's Hospital chapel and undercroft
are on the east side of the gardens, by the Museum Street entrance. The hospital was the largest in England during the Middle Ages
, and was run by a community of men and women of the Augustinian order. During the 14th century, the hospital could have contained as many as 240 patients, 18 clergy and 30 choristers. St. Leonard's Hospital was closed during the dissolution of the monasteries, when it was surrendered to Henry VIII by Thomas Magnus. The undercroft and chapel were part of the infirmary built between 1225 and 1250. The interior of the undercroft, accessible from the gardens, has a rib vaulted ceiling and houses a collection of Roman
and medieval stonework. In 1999, the hospital and surrounding area in Museum Gardens was one of three sites in York to feature in an edition of the British Channel 4 television show Time Team
.
Between the Museum Street entrance to the gardens and the River Ouse is a short stretch of York's city walls
, which ends at the medieval Lendal Tower.
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society
constructed several buildings in the gardens during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Yorkshire Museum
, one of the first purpose-built museums in Britain. The Yorkshire Museum was designed by architect William Wilkins
in a Greek Revival style and was officially opened in February 1830. On 26 September 1831 the inaugural meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
was held at the Yorkshire Museum. Three of the museum's permanent collections are housed in the Yorkshire Museum building all of which have English designated collection status, which means they are "pre-eminent collections of national and international importance". The biology
collection contains 200,000 specimens, including both fauna and flora, with most of the collection made up of insects. There are two stuffed specimens of the extinct great auk
, an almost complete skeleton of an extinct moa
and a large collection of specimens from the Yorkshire region including the remains of elephants, cave bears and hyena
from Kirkdale Cave
dated to the Quaternary period
, around 125,000 years ago. The geological collection contains over 112,500 specimens of rocks, minerals and fossils. Fossils make up most of the collection numbering over 100,000 samples, and include important specimens from the Carboniferous
, Mesozoic
and Tertiary
periods. The archaeology
collection has close to a million objects that date from around 500,000 BC to the 20th century, including the Coppergate Helmet
discovered in York in 1982, and the Ormside Bowl
, an intricate example of an Anglian
silversmith
.Archaeology, York Museums Trust (2006), retrieved on 24 June 2007.
Most of the museum's astronomy collection is housed in the octagonal observatory
in the centre of the gardens, built during 1832 and 1833. The design of its rotating roof is credited to John Smeaton
designer of the Eddystone Lighthouse
. A 4.5 inches (11 cm) telescope built in 1850 by the instrument maker Thomas Cooke of York was installed during the observatory's 1981 restoration. It is Yorkshire's
oldest working observatory and, as of August 2007, is open to the public on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and alternate Friday afternoons. The clock in the observatory was made by Barraud of London in 1811, and during the 19th century it was used to set the time for other clocks in York.
At the eastern, Museum Street, entrance to the gardens is Museum Gardens' Lodge built in 1874 to a design by George Fowler Jones
in a Victorian Gothic revival style. The lodge now houses the Yorkshire Philosophical Society's offices and reading room.
The curator
's house, built in 1844 and originally called the keeper's house, is located by King's Manor
. It was designed by J B Atkinson and was built using reclaimed limestone from St. Mary's Abbey.
, a York surgeon and vulcanologist, presented the hall to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society to replace its existing lecture theatre. Designed by E Ridsdale Tate
, it is an early example of the use of reinforced concrete
and is a Grade I listed building. In the late 20th century it housed a cinema, but it is now used as a conference venue and lecture theatre.
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, beside the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
. They cover an area of 10 acres (4 ha) of the former grounds of St Mary's Abbey
St Mary's Abbey, York
The Abbey of St Mary in York, once the richest abbey in the north of England, is a ruined Benedictine abbey that lies in what are now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens, on a steeply sloping site to the west of York Minster. The original abbey on the site was founded in 1055 and dedicated to Saint Olave...
, and were created in the 1830s by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society
Yorkshire Philosophical Society
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society is a charitable learned society aimed at promoting the natural sciences, archaeology and history. The society was formed in York in December 1822 by James Atkinson, William Salmond, Anthony Thorpe and William Vernon....
along with the Yorkshire Museum
Yorkshire Museum
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It is the home of the Cawood sword, and has four permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology and astronomy...
which they contain.
The gardens are held in trust by the City of York Council and are managed by the York Museums Trust. They were designed in a gardenesque
Gardenesque
The term gardenesque was introduced by John Claudius Loudon to describe a style of planting design in accordance with his 'Principle of Recognition'.-Definitions:...
style by landscape architect
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
Sir John Murray Naysmith, and contain a variety of species of plants, trees and birds. Admission is free. A variety of events take place in the gardens, such as open-air theatre performances and festival activities.
There are several historic buildings in the gardens. These include:
- the Yorkshire MuseumYorkshire MuseumThe Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It is the home of the Cawood sword, and has four permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology and astronomy...
- the HospitiumHospitiumHospitium , hospitality, among the Greeks and Romans, was of a twofold character: private and public.-Private:In Homeric times all strangers without exception, were regarded as being under the protection of Zeus Xenios, the god of strangers and suppliants...
- buildings associated with St Mary's AbbeySt Mary's Abbey, YorkThe Abbey of St Mary in York, once the richest abbey in the north of England, is a ruined Benedictine abbey that lies in what are now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens, on a steeply sloping site to the west of York Minster. The original abbey on the site was founded in 1055 and dedicated to Saint Olave...
dating from the Middle Ages, including the ruins of the abbey church - the lodge
- part of the surviving precinct wall
- remains from St. LeonardLeonard of NoblacLeonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
's Hospital chapelChapelA chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
and undercroftUndercroftAn undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...
. - an octagonal observatoryObservatoryAn observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
.
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society constructed several buildings in the gardens during the 19th and early 20th century, including the Yorkshire Museum and its octagonal observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
.
- the remains of the west corner of the Roman fortCastraThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
of EboracumEboracumEboracum was a fort and city in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into York, located in North Yorkshire, England.-Etymology:The first known recorded mention of Eboracum by name is dated circa 95-104 AD and is an address containing the Latin form of the settlement's name, "Eburaci", on a wooden...
, including the Multangular Tower and parts of the Roman walls - the Anglian TowerAnglian TowerThe Anglian Tower is the lower portion of a tower on the city walls of York in the English county of North Yorkshire. Its date is somewhat controversial.The tower is located on a section of the Roman city wall in the Museum Gardens...
, which probably dates from the late RomanRoman BritainRoman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
period. During the Middle AgesMiddle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the tower was expanded and the Roman walls were incorporated into York's city wallsYork city wallsThe English city of York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England...
.
Most of the other buildings dating from the Middle Ages are associated with St Mary's Abbey, including the ruins of the abbey church, the Hospitium, the lodge and part of the surviving precinct wall. The remains of St. Leonard
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
's Hospital chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
and undercroft
Undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...
are on the east side of the gardens. The Yorkshire Philosophical Society constructed several buildings in the gardens during the 19th and early 20th century, including the Yorkshire Museum and its octagonal observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
. The museum houses four permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology and astronomy.
Description
York Museum Gardens cover an area of 10 acres (4 ha) on the north bank of the River OuseRiver Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
, just outside the city walls
York city walls
The English city of York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England...
in the centre of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. There are four entrances to the gardens: on Marygate (off Bootham) by St Olave's Church
St Olave's Church, York
St Olave's is an Anglican church in York, England. It is situated on Marygate by St Mary's Abbey.The church is situated within St Mary's Abbey walls, which was ruined in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is dedicated to St Olaf, patron saint of Norway...
, on Museum Street by Lendal Bridge, via a path at the side of King's Manor
King's Manor
The King's Manor is a Grade I listed building in York, England, and is part of the University of York.King's Manor was originally built to house the abbots of St Mary's Abbey, York. The Abbot's house probably occupied the site since the eleventh century, but the earliest remains date from the...
, and from the riverside walk next to the River Ouse. The site slopes gently down towards the river and is made up of historical buildings and undulating lawns interspersed with plants and trees. The gardens are open to the public during daylight hours, so the opening and closing times vary throughout the year. Admission is free, and there are about 500,000 visitors each year. Drinking alcohol, cycling and ball games are not allowed in the gardens.
The gardens, which were given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society
Yorkshire Philosophical Society
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society is a charitable learned society aimed at promoting the natural sciences, archaeology and history. The society was formed in York in December 1822 by James Atkinson, William Salmond, Anthony Thorpe and William Vernon....
by the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
in 1828, occupy part of the former grounds of St. Mary’s Abbey
St Mary's Abbey, York
The Abbey of St Mary in York, once the richest abbey in the north of England, is a ruined Benedictine abbey that lies in what are now the Yorkshire Museum Gardens, on a steeply sloping site to the west of York Minster. The original abbey on the site was founded in 1055 and dedicated to Saint Olave...
. The society acquired the land to build a museum to house its collections; the Yorkshire Museum was completed in 1830. The then Princess Victoria visited the gardens in 1835, the year that they were first open to the public. In 1960, the gardens and the Yorkshire Museum were given in trust to the City of York Council. Since 2002, they have been managed by the York Museums Trust, along with York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum is a museum located in York, North Yorkshire, England, on the site of York Castle, originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068...
and York Art Gallery
York Art Gallery
thumb|right|York Art Gallery and statue of William Etty, by Stanley HoweYork Art Gallery in York, North Yorkshire, England is a public art gallery with a collection of paintings, from 14th century to contemporary, and 20th-century ceramics...
. The gardens are maintained by the Askham Bryan College of Agriculture.
The land was granted to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society under the condition that botanical gardens would be established on the site. These were created during the 1830s in a gardenesque
Gardenesque
The term gardenesque was introduced by John Claudius Loudon to describe a style of planting design in accordance with his 'Principle of Recognition'.-Definitions:...
style design by landscape architect
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
Sir John Murray Naysmith. They originally contained a conservatory
Conservatory (greenhouse)
A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...
, a pond and a menagerie
Menagerie
A menagerie is/was a form of keeping common and exotic animals in captivity that preceded the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in seventeenth century France in reference to the management of household or domestic stock. Later, it came to be used primarily in reference to...
, which was destroyed when a bear escaped from it and had brief control of the area. The gardens are home to a population of semi-tame
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
grey squirrels
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
and many species of birds. Until 2006 a family of peacocks had been in residence for at least 70 years. There are approximately 4,500 plants and trees in the collection, some of the varieties native to England and some from other parts of the world. Planting consists of large beds containing predominantly shrubs and trees, and lawns interspersed with individual trees. Species of tree include a monkey puzzle tree
Araucaria araucana
Araucaria araucana is an evergreen tree growing to tall with a trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile, western Argentina and south Brazil. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria...
along with oak and chestnut trees; three of the trees in the gardens are classed as United Kingdom champion trees. There is a rockery next to the Marygate entrance, by the ruins of the abbey church, and in front of the entrance to the Yorkshire Museum there is a terrace bordered with beds of white roses, the symbol of Yorkshire
White Rose of York
The White Rose of York , a white heraldic rose, is the symbol of the House of York and has since been adopted as a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole.-History:...
.
There is also a geological oddity close to the main gates, consisting of a large boulder of pink granite that was discovered during construction of the city's railway station. Since this type of stone is not local it was determined as having been transported there from Shap
Shap
Shap is a linear village and civil parish located amongst fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England. The village lies along the A6 road and the West Coast Main Line, and is near to the M6 motorway...
in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
by glacial action during the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
.
Activities
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
and Pink Fairies
Pink Fairies
Pink Fairies were an English rock band active in the London underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug taking and anarchy and often performed impromptu gigs and other agitprop stunts, such as playing for free outside the gates at the Bath and Isle of Wight...
staged concerts, and in 2007 The Lord Chamberlain's Men presented a production of Romeo & Juliet. During the 20th-century revival of the York Mystery Plays
York Mystery Plays
The York Mystery Plays, more properly called the York Corpus Christi Plays, are a Middle English cycle of forty-eight mystery plays, or pageants, which cover sacred history from the creation to the Last Judgement. These were traditionally presented on the feast day of Corpus Christi...
, performances were held on a fixed stage in the gardens among the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. In the 1950s, York actress Dame Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
acted in the plays performed in the gardens, and played the Virgin Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
in 1957. Several of York's festivals use the gardens as a venue for events; in 2006, between 800 and 1,000 people celebrated the Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
with displays that included lion dance
Lion dance
Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume. The lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as dragon dance. An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is operated by two people, while a dragon needs many people...
rs, and in 2007 during the Jorvik Viking festival there were demonstrations of Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
craft skills and battle training. The gardens are the location of York’s Saluting Station, one of only 12 in the United Kingdom, with 21-gun salute
21-gun salute
Gun salutes are the firing of cannons or firearms as a military or naval honor.The custom stems from naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent...
s being fired at noon to celebrate occasions related to the British Royal Family throughout the year. At these times a military band
Military band
A military band originally was a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the title of Bandmaster or Director of Music...
marches to the gardens before the salute is fired.
Roman
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
of Eboracum
Eboracum
Eboracum was a fort and city in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into York, located in North Yorkshire, England.-Etymology:The first known recorded mention of Eboracum by name is dated circa 95-104 AD and is an address containing the Latin form of the settlement's name, "Eburaci", on a wooden...
. The original defences, consisting of turf ramparts on a green wood foundation, were built by the Ninth Legion between 71 and 74 AD. Later those were replaced by a clay mound with a turf front on a new oak foundation, and eventually wooden battlements were added, which were then replaced by limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
walls and towers. These stone defences are some of the few Roman remains that are visible above ground in York.
The Multangular Tower is the western corner tower of the Roman fortress, and consists of both Roman and medieval architecture. The tower has 10 sides, from which it derives its modern name "multangular", and is 19 feet (5.8 m) high. It was built in its late Roman form during the early 4th century, when it was constructed with three floors to house a catapult
Catapult
A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during...
. Five Roman stone coffins are in the Multangular Tower, which were brought from graveyards in other areas of York.
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
in Britain, and were subsequently incorporated into the medieval city walls
York city walls
The English city of York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England...
. As late as the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
they were being used to defend the city, and there is a hole in the wall along from the Multangular Tower that was made by a cannon ball during this period. The Roman parts of the wall and towers are constructed of regular rectangular limestone blocks with a band of red tile running through them. The later medieval additions can be identified by the use of much larger blocks of limestone that cut through the red tiles in places and by the cross shaped arrow slits on the Multangular Tower.
To the north of the Multangular Tower there is a stretch of the medieval city wall with the remains of the original Roman wall running parallel to it on the city side. Built into this part of the wall is the stone Anglian Tower
Anglian Tower
The Anglian Tower is the lower portion of a tower on the city walls of York in the English county of North Yorkshire. Its date is somewhat controversial.The tower is located on a section of the Roman city wall in the Museum Gardens...
, which was once thought to have been built during the reign of Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin of Northumbria
Edwin , also known as Eadwine or Æduini, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until his death. He converted to Christianity and was baptised in 627; after he fell at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, he was venerated as a saint.Edwin was the son...
, but now is generally thought to be of the very late Roman period. Behind the Anglian Tower are a series of banks showing the level of the defences during the Roman, early Middle Ages, Norman, and late medieval periods.
Medieval
- Main article for St. Mary's Abbey: St. Mary's Abbey, York
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Abbey's origins date back to 1086 when Alan Count of Brittany
Alan IV, Duke of Brittany
Alan IV was Duke of Brittany, from 1084 until his abdication in 1112. He was also Count of Nantes and Count of Rennes. He was son of Hawise, Duchess of Brittany and Duke Hoel II. He was known as Alan Fergant, which in Breton means "Alan the Strong"...
granted St Olave's Church
St Olave's Church, York
St Olave's is an Anglican church in York, England. It is situated on Marygate by St Mary's Abbey.The church is situated within St Mary's Abbey walls, which was ruined in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is dedicated to St Olaf, patron saint of Norway...
and the adjoining land to the monk Stephen of Whitby, who became the first abbot of St. Mary's. When St Olave's Church became too small, a larger church in a Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
style was built nearby, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1089 by William II
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
. This was replaced between 1270 and 1279 by a church in a Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style. The abbey became the wealthiest monastery in the North of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, worth over £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2,085 a year before it was dissolved
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
on the 25 November 1539. Over the next 200 years the abbey fell into disrepair and the abbey church was largely dismantled for its stone.
Stones from the abbey church can be seen lining paths throughout the gardens, but the major ruins of the church are on the western side. The church was aligned on a northeast axis because of the shape and size of the site, instead of pointing to the east, the normal alignment for churches in England. Part of the north and west walls that formed the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and crossing
Crossing (architecture)
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
, designed in Gothic style by architect Simon of Pabenham in the 13th century, remain standing. The ruins include dummy lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
s, tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
windows and "tracery remains to show that the patterns alternated between a single large circle over two lights and three small circles over three lights". The column capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
are decorated with foliage in a stiff-leaf style as well as in a naturalistic
Naturalism (art)
Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...
style, although this stonework is weatherworn and so this decoration is hard to distinguish. Sections of the foundations of the church and its Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
predecessor are exposed, and a plan of their layouts can be seen in the grass. Finds excavated from the site, including life-sized statues of Christian saints, can be seen in the Yorkshire Museum.
Gatehouse
A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...
at the main entrance to the abbey, – now the Marygate entrance to the gardens. Some remains of the 12th-century gatehouse can still be seen, in particular the archway attached to the side of the lodge. The lodge is built of stone, and does not contain timber framing
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
like the nearby Hospitium. The lodge, along with the attached railings, gates and gate piers are all Grade I listed buildings, which means that they are of outstanding interest. Originally, the lodge may have been used as a guesthouse for the abbey, and was the point where the poor could claim alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
from the abbey. After the abbey's dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, the lodge became a courthouse until 1722, when part of the building became a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
. In 1840, it was used as a home for the Yorkshire Museum's curator, and then as offices, and during the early 21st century became the headquarters of the York Museums Trust.
Precinct
A precinct is a space enclosed by the walls or other boundaries of a particular place or building, or by an arbitrary and imaginary line drawn around it. The term has several different uses...
walls are still standing. A section of the remaining walls runs along the north-west part of the gardens and extends further along Marygate to Bootham
Bootham
Bootham is a district near the centre of the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is just outside Bootham Bar, one of the ancient gateways through the city walls of York...
. The walls were constructed in 1266 and increased in height and crenellated in 1318 under a royal license from Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
. Originally there was a defensive ditch along the outside of the walls. The walls include several towers, not all of them dating from the medieval period; the semicircular tower near the gatehouse is a 19th-century reconstruction. The walls and towers were used for the abbey's defence, e.g. in disputes with the City of York over land ownership and taxes, and played a role in the defence of the city during the Siege of York
Siege of York
The Siege of York in 1644 was a prolonged contest for York during the English Civil War, between the Scottish Covenanter Army and the Parliamentarian Armies of the Northern Association and Eastern Association on the one hand, and the Royalist Army under the Marquess of Newcastle on the other...
.
Hospitium
Hospitium , hospitality, among the Greeks and Romans, was of a twofold character: private and public.-Private:In Homeric times all strangers without exception, were regarded as being under the protection of Zeus Xenios, the god of strangers and suppliants...
is located between the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey Church and the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
and is thought to have originally been a guest house for visitors to the abbey of low social rank, or possibly a barn. It was originally part of a group of buildings in the abbey grounds that included a brew-house, stables, mill and, near the main gate, a boarding school with 50 pupils. The oldest parts of the ground floor were built around 1300, but the upper storey has been extensively restored in modern times. The ruined gateway at the side dates back to the 15th century, and was probably the entrance to a passage that ran towards the water-gate by the river.
The remains of St. Leonard's Hospital chapel and undercroft
Undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...
are on the east side of the gardens, by the Museum Street entrance. The hospital was the largest in England during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and was run by a community of men and women of the Augustinian order. During the 14th century, the hospital could have contained as many as 240 patients, 18 clergy and 30 choristers. St. Leonard's Hospital was closed during the dissolution of the monasteries, when it was surrendered to Henry VIII by Thomas Magnus. The undercroft and chapel were part of the infirmary built between 1225 and 1250. The interior of the undercroft, accessible from the gardens, has a rib vaulted ceiling and houses a collection of Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and medieval stonework. In 1999, the hospital and surrounding area in Museum Gardens was one of three sites in York to feature in an edition of the British Channel 4 television show Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
.
Between the Museum Street entrance to the gardens and the River Ouse is a short stretch of York's city walls
York city walls
The English city of York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England...
, which ends at the medieval Lendal Tower.
19th and 20th century
Yorkshire Philosophical Society
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society is a charitable learned society aimed at promoting the natural sciences, archaeology and history. The society was formed in York in December 1822 by James Atkinson, William Salmond, Anthony Thorpe and William Vernon....
constructed several buildings in the gardens during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Yorkshire Museum
Yorkshire Museum
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It is the home of the Cawood sword, and has four permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology and astronomy...
, one of the first purpose-built museums in Britain. The Yorkshire Museum was designed by architect William Wilkins
William Wilkins (architect)
William Wilkins RA was an English architect, classical scholar and archaeologist. He designed the National Gallery and University College in London, and buildings for several Cambridge colleges.-Life:...
in a Greek Revival style and was officially opened in February 1830. On 26 September 1831 the inaugural meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...
was held at the Yorkshire Museum. Three of the museum's permanent collections are housed in the Yorkshire Museum building all of which have English designated collection status, which means they are "pre-eminent collections of national and international importance". The biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
collection contains 200,000 specimens, including both fauna and flora, with most of the collection made up of insects. There are two stuffed specimens of the extinct great auk
Great Auk
The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...
, an almost complete skeleton of an extinct moa
Moa
The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
and a large collection of specimens from the Yorkshire region including the remains of elephants, cave bears and hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
from Kirkdale Cave
Kirkdale Cave
Kirkdale Cave is a cave located in Kirkdale near Kirkbymoorside in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire, England. The cave was discovered by workmen in 1821, and was found to contain fossilized bones of a variety of mammals not currently found in Great Britain, including hippopotamus, the...
dated to the Quaternary period
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
, around 125,000 years ago. The geological collection contains over 112,500 specimens of rocks, minerals and fossils. Fossils make up most of the collection numbering over 100,000 samples, and include important specimens from the Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
, Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
and Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
periods. The archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
collection has close to a million objects that date from around 500,000 BC to the 20th century, including the Coppergate Helmet
Coppergate Helmet
The Coppergate Helmet is an 8th century Anglo-Saxon crested helm in York. It has two cheek plates, a mail curtain and a nose-guard, and is richly decorated with brass ornamentation. On analysis it was found to be made of iron with decorations of brass containing approximately 85 percent copper...
discovered in York in 1982, and the Ormside Bowl
Ormside bowl
The Ormside Bowl is an Anglo-Saxon double-bowl in gilded silver and bronze, with glass, perhaps Northumbrian, dating from the mid-8th century which was found in 1823, possibly buried next to a Viking warrior in Great Ormside, Cumbria, though the circumstances of the find were not well recorded...
, an intricate example of an Anglian
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
.Archaeology, York Museums Trust (2006), retrieved on 24 June 2007.
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
in the centre of the gardens, built during 1832 and 1833. The design of its rotating roof is credited to John Smeaton
John Smeaton
John Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
designer of the Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss....
. A 4.5 inches (11 cm) telescope built in 1850 by the instrument maker Thomas Cooke of York was installed during the observatory's 1981 restoration. It is Yorkshire's
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
oldest working observatory and, as of August 2007, is open to the public on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and alternate Friday afternoons. The clock in the observatory was made by Barraud of London in 1811, and during the 19th century it was used to set the time for other clocks in York.
At the eastern, Museum Street, entrance to the gardens is Museum Gardens' Lodge built in 1874 to a design by George Fowler Jones
George Fowler Jones
George Fowler Jones, was an architect , who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, but based for most of his working life in York.-Biography and work:...
in a Victorian Gothic revival style. The lodge now houses the Yorkshire Philosophical Society's offices and reading room.
The curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
's house, built in 1844 and originally called the keeper's house, is located by King's Manor
King's Manor
The King's Manor is a Grade I listed building in York, England, and is part of the University of York.King's Manor was originally built to house the abbots of St Mary's Abbey, York. The Abbot's house probably occupied the site since the eleventh century, but the earliest remains date from the...
. It was designed by J B Atkinson and was built using reclaimed limestone from St. Mary's Abbey.
Tempest Anderson Hall
The Tempest Anderson Hall is a 300-seat auditorium-style lecture theatre built in 1912 as an annex to the Yorkshire Museum. Dr Tempest AndersonTempest Anderson
Tempest Anderson was an ophthalmic surgeon at York County Hospital in the United Kingdom. He was also an expert amateur photographer and vulcanologist...
, a York surgeon and vulcanologist, presented the hall to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society to replace its existing lecture theatre. Designed by E Ridsdale Tate
E Ridsdale Tate
Edwin Ridsdale Tate was a British antiquary, artist and architect based in York.-Life:Tate was born in York, where his birth was registered in the Bootham sub-district. For a time, he worked for local architectural firm R. Gould and C. Fisher. Before returning to York, he also worked in London...
, it is an early example of the use of reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
and is a Grade I listed building. In the late 20th century it housed a cinema, but it is now used as a conference venue and lecture theatre.